BCCI Suspends Tours With West Indies; to Take Legal Action Too

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to suspend bilateral tours with West Indies and will take legal against the Caribbean cricket Board for abruptly pulling out of the India tour last week. This decision was taken by the BCCI working committee in Hyderabad on Tuesday. (MS Dhoni rested, Virat Kohli to lead in ODIs vs Sri Lanka)

The tourists abandoned the series with another one-dayer, a Twenty20 international and three Test matches left to play over a protracted payment dispute between the players and their board. (BCCI has suffered huge losses, says Sanjay Patel)

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said it had been left with no choice but to abandon the tour of India, an action that angered the world's richest cricket body, who swiftly roped in Sri Lanka as replacement to play a five-match ODI series next month. (Sri Lanka board defends decision to play India)

The venues for the five ODIs will be Cuttack, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad and the detailed itinerary will be announced shortly. (West Indies cricket will suffer for pulling out of India tour: Sunil Gavaskar to NDTV)

The BCCI members appreciated the gesture of Sri Lankan Cricket Board for accepting India's request to play 5 ODIs starting from November 2. This tour is in lieu of Sri Lanka's scheduled tour to India next year which will be reciprocated by India touring Sri Lanka in months of July-August 2015.

"It will be very difficult to play West Indies in bilateral series in future. They have to demonstrate the willingness that such situations never happen again," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel had said on Saturday. (WI cricketers allowed to continue in IPL | WI cricket faces huge financial losses)

The Indian cricket team is scheduled to tour the Caribbean for three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 match early in 2016. "Whatever the dispute, they should have honoured the bilateral agreement," Patel said.

"We thank our friends Sri Lanka who agreed to the tour on a short notice but unfortunately we couldn't fit in the Tests as there was not enough time."

"We have suffered huge losses and the ICC is our parent body and we are going to ask them to ensure that this never happens in the future," Patel added.

The ICC is headed by BCCI's president-in-exile N. Srinivasan, often described as the most powerful man in the sport.

The WICB has apologised to BCCI as well as sponsors, broadcasters and fans in a statement. It said it had offered to provide a replacement team but India had declined that offer.

The WICB and West Indies Players' Association signed a new agreement last month covering pay and conditions but it was rejected by the senior players, including one-day captain Dwayne Bravowho said they were kept in the dark.

The players subsequently issued a strike threat but eventually took to the field and were playing the match when the BCCI announced an abrupt end to the tour.

(With inputs from Reuters)